Fireworks Night Advice (same topic threads merged)

Hello All

I'm sure this discussion comes around every year, but as I'm a newbie and guess the info will also help others new to this site; what tactics, other than sound CDs, do you guys use to help a dog frightened on fireworks night (or month as it's seemed to become!)?

Few weeks before, plug in a Dap diffuser. (few weeks after, too)
On the night, close the curtains, put the tv up loud (warn the neighbours) and every time a firework goes off, I clap my hands and say "speak, speak" in a very excited voice.
After the second year, Missy now speaks at every firework and the tv is not so loud

We found the diffusers didn't really help. Ollie now gets a half tsp of Valerian, and we keep the curtains closed and the tele on and just try to ignore him if he starts to get agitated and lay by us we do not fuss him but speak to him calmly and carry on as normal it does seem to help.

at the month timing it will start round here as soon as they go on sale in the local shops probably October and carry on till about February.

First thing I do is start putting Rescue remedy in water about Mid October.

From about Halloween onwards I make sure they go out for a pee well before dark as my older Beardie won't go out if they are going off. I take him out on lead even in garden last thing and if he's still too stressed have even got up during night to let him out.

We get fireworks most of the year. The really loud ones are perpetrated by our beloved Council who enjoy spending our money every Saturday night for the benefit of 2 damp tourists and the odd seagull.
My dogs are blase now - we just turn the TV up and close the curtains. I have blackout linings to the curtains as I find the flashes bother them. If you don`t react, the dog will gradually learn to accept the racket.

I'm quite lucky in that living in a semi-rural area fireworks are strongly discouraged by the farmers so we tend to only get them on the weekend closest to bonfire night and on the night itself.

I only have one severely reactive dog. She is frightened of any loud noises but we've had plenty of opportunity to work on this over the summer with the scarecrow scarers and shooting on the hills.

Having tried rescue remedy etc. I prefer the distraction technique, although at first I was struggling to find anything that would take her mind off the noise. Then I discovered her love of the hose pipe/ supersoaker and this has been amazing. Her desire to play with the jets of water is more powerful than her fear of the noise and when playing, after the first few shots she doesn't even flinch at a gunshot. But it has also helped her to deal with the noise even when we are not playing.

So, this bonfire night, depending on how close the fireworks are, we will either be out in the garden playing with the hose pipe or getting a very wet kitchen playing inside with a water pistol.

I should add that the game does not involve her just running around in a frenzy - she has to listen to my instructions as to where the water is going to go - left right, go (forward) or away (behind her). she also sometimes has to stay in a sit while i spray the water so that although she is excited, she is not manic and she is so focused on me and the water that she hardly notices the noise.

Some sound advice already given.

I think we're lucky as we don;t react to them, so the dogs don;t either, Reah is about the only one to show slight bother, and she lies between the chairs, but we don;t make a fuss and she goes to sleep.
Fireworks have started here already, someone was letting them off last night when I walked to two younger ones, but they didn't react to them...thankfully

I have never had a dog that was reactive to fireworks, I have always gone outside and ooo'd and ahhhh'd with the dogs at them. Those that just bang and do nothing else, the dogs usually bark at, the pretty ones they sit and look at. Sometimes it's like world war 3 out there on the weekends closest to the 5th.

Glad this thread was started, some good tips I shall certainly be using. Thanks.

My mother's late rescue dog Bess always had a terrible time with fireworks and thunder. She would become hysterical and try to hide behind furniture, trying to dig herself into the carpet and once chewed through a door! On one occasion Bess tried to get behind the computer and tore all the wires out of the wall including the phone and Mum's emergency button (she's elderly and lives alone).

Mum tried many things over the years but nothing really worked... tranquillisers zonked Bess out too much; other things had no effect at all, or required a lot of notice for it to take effect (useless with thunderstorms).

Finally she tried a herbal compound from Dorwest Herbs and that did the trick, keeping Bess calm but not doped up. It worked so well she was featured in an article in Your Dog magazine a couple of years ago about different ways to help dogs on firework night.